Virtual archaeology
JAN 13, 2010
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.023998
Science : Back in the late 1990s, archaeologist Sam Paley of the University at Buffalo in New York was frustrated in his study of the throne room of the 9th century BCE Northwest Palace at Nimrud , the storied Assyrian capital in what is now Iraq, as many artifacts from the room were scattered among many museums.Then at a conference he heard a presentation by Donald Sanders , a leading proponent of using interactive three-dimensional computer graphics in archaeology, and enlisted Sanders’s help.The pair spent many years getting photographs from museums and successfully built a virtual 3D model of the structure.The throne room is a classic example of the growth of virtual archaeology , in which archaeologists use computers to re-create the environment and conditions of the past.The technique is slowly moving into mainstream archaeology.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics
